On the other end, Shang Yang had already been brought out of the dark prison by Jiang Deshun.
The people from the secret service did not torture her too badly, even her injuries were only in places that could not be seen.
But the clothes on her body were really worn for far too long, covered in bloodstains, and gave off a foul odor from time to time.
Right next to the dark room was the water dungeon, an extremely damp environment.
Shang Yang had not seen the sun for a long time. Now standing under the sun, she still had the leisure to stretch lazily and greedily breathe in the fresh air.
Hearing the urging of the guards behind her, she finally said to Jiang Deshun:
"Master Jiang, allow me to return to the palace and change my clothes? This may be the last time I see His Majesty."
In the past when Xiao Jingheng was still at the Prince's residence, Jiang Deshun had served by his side.
He was the first person in the entire palace to know Shang Yang.
Seventeen years ago, after Xiao Jingheng accidentally injured Shang Yang with an arrow while hunting in the hunting grounds and brought her back to the residence to treat her, many aspects of Shang Yang’s daily life were arranged by Jiang Deshun.
Now Jiang Deshun also knew Shang Yang did not have much time left and could not help but sigh,
"My Lady... why put yourself through this? If you had just told His Majesty about the candle yin earlier, His Majesty would have spared you considering your many years together."
Shang Yang shook her head lightly and closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought. After pondering for a while, she suddenly smiled gently.
As her last request as mistress, Jiang Deshun's heart softened and he agreed.
After taking Shang Yang back to the palace, he saw her choose a plain white silk robe to wear.
The robe was plain white without any embroidery, except for the turned out cuffs, where an embroidered bright red coral that looked like blood was visible.
Jiang Deshun recognized it at first glance, "Was this the robe His Majesty asked this slave to buy for you when you were brought back to the Prince's residence after His Majesty saved you? You... kept it all this time?"
Shang Yang gave a silent, bitter laugh, and stroked the red coral she had later embroidered inside the cuff, saying faintly:
"Let's go."
When Shang Yang stepped into the Zhaoyang Palace hall, Xiao Jingheng was sitting atop the throne, looking at her coldly.
She looked at him calmly, gave him a bright smile, then bowed down in greeting,
"Your servant, Shang Yang, pays respect to Your Majesty."
These words came out lightly from her mouth, but they were like thunder claps in Xiao Jingheng’s ears.
He forcibly suppressed his anger, waved his hand to dismiss all sides, leaving only Shang Yang.
The palace maids closed the heavy hall doors tightly. With a muffled bang, the chirping of insects and twitter of birds, the rustling of wind through the trees in the yard vanished in an instant.
It was extremely quiet in the hall, as quiet as the many lonely, bitter, cold nights Shang Yang had spent over the years deep within the palace.
It seemed as if even the air she breathed in had frozen over, painfully stabbing her lungs.
Xiao Jingheng asked her coldly,
“When we were young I accidentally shot an arrow through your right shoulder while hunting in the hunting grounds. I couldn’t bear to leave you there so I took you back to treat you. From that time on, you had already begun to plot against me. Isn’t that right?”
Upon hearing this, Shang Yang’s smile remained as she calmly nodded,
“I should thank Your Majesty for saving me. Otherwise, this servant would likely have died seventeen years ago in the outskirts of the city.”
Seeing her utter lack of fear, Xiao Jingheng's heart, on the contrary, was out of control and began to spasm.
Of course now he felt nothing for Shang Yang,
but he could not deny that when they first met all those years ago, she was just over the age of thirteen, more delicate than the flowers. Her eyes, bright as a cat's, were filled with a luminous light, seeming to speak.
Her beauty did fall slightly short of Zhao Hua’s, but she was still delicate and lovable, innocent and ignorant.
Xiao Jingheng had to admit, his first feelings of romantic love began with Shang Yang.
He thought they had shared a wonderful time together.
But over time, as she grew older and a new generation of fair women emerged,
his fondness for her had unknowingly faded away.
Now thinking back on those days, Xiao Jingheng’s face turned as cold as an icy glacier in an instant, with blazing anger smoldering in his knit brows,
“You lurked by me for so long, only for the throne of the Son of Heaven?”
“What else?” Shang Yang shrugged lightly, looking as if she had heard an uproariously funny joke. Her laughter was like silver bells.
“What good things of yours does His Majesty think I’m still trying to get my hands on? Your shallow feelings? Your suspicious mind? Tsk tsk..."
She spoke mockingly and shook her head, "It's only today that you finally realized? Haha, if His Highness the King had not been so incompetent and given into torture, revealing everything, the throne would have already belonged to the King. Do you think you’re very smart? Hmph, you’re just lucky.”
Her words were cutting, infuriating Xiao Jingheng.
He glared at Shang Yang, a flash of viciousness in his eyes,
“I have no time to listen to your ridicule and mockery. Tell me straight what you have done and what else the candle yin was plotting. If you do, I may be merciful and grant you a whole corpse.”
"What have I done?" Shang Yang's snow-white teeth lightly bit her slightly flushed lips as she pretended to ponder, leaning on her hand, "Now that you ask, you’ve really got me good. What have I done? Tsk tsk...”
She paced leisurely below the hall, completely disregarding rules she had long been tired of over the years. Shortly after, she suddenly stopped and snapped her fingers at Xiao Jingheng, saying,
"Oh, I remember now. When Consort Shu was pregnant, I talked with Empress Jia Rui a few times. I mentioned to her that my father favored boys over girls and had always been unwilling to give birth to daughters. When my mother was four months pregnant with me and found out I was a girl, she kept bribing the physician to lie to my father that I was a boy so I could be safely born. The wise Empress Jia Rui immediately thought of a good way to deal with Consort Shu after hearing this. She then went and had the imperial physician tell Consort Shu that the child in her belly would not survive, forcing Consort Shu to miscarriage herself.”
She spoke more and more smugly, even rubbing her hands together excitedly,
"And Noble Consort Xiao, I had her eat more fish, shrimp, crab and other fishy, strong smelling things during her pregnancy, aggravating the symptoms of snake skin eczema on the imperial child in her belly, giving you a deformed snake baby as a noble son! Of all the fools in your harem other than Song Zhao, who could safely give birth to an heir under my nose? Teehee~"
"Vile woman!" Xiao Jingheng grabbed the nearby inkstone stand and smashed it violently at Shang Yang. The veins on his forehead pulsed violently as he pointed at Shang Yang and shouted, "The children are innocent, yet in order to achieve your goals you did not hesitate to..."
"Hahahahahahahaha~" Shang Yang interrupted Xiao Jingheng with a near crazed laughter, "Innocent children? How ironic coming from you. Have you forgotten how Cheng Yu was buried alive by you? Let me tell you the truth. Tan Yuezhi is also my man. He advised you to bury your own son and you actually did it. You really do as I say~ Hahahahaha!"
Xiao Jingheng had his scars laid bare before him, immediately flying into senseless rage,
"Impudent!"
But Shang Yang only looked at him with utter contempt, and raised an eyebrow,
"Xiao Jingheng, you always thought I was your chess piece in the harem. Do you understand now? Between you and me, who is really the chess piece and who is the chess player?"
Having said that, she strode right up to the dragon throne and sternly shouted,
"Your tricks and schemes do not even match those of I, a mere woman. Can you securely sit on that throne as ruler of the realm?"
